Miss Universe Visits The Ursuline School

NEW ROCHELLE, NY -- Miss Universe 2013-2014, Gabriela Isler of Venezuela, stopped by Ursuline in late April to learn about our Personal Development program and the mission of The Ursuline School to Educate/Inspire/Empower young women. Ms. Isler has personally launched the Universe of Blessings Fund, an organization which seeks to empower young women and girls. She particularly enjoyed visiting a Catholic girls school as she, herself, is the product of a Catholic all-girls education.

Ms. Isler was interviewed by our Unison newspaper team (above) and later shared about how special it was to receive public recognition from Pope Francis for her humanitarian work in the Philippines and elsewhere.

On November 9, 2013, Gabriela Isler made history when she was named Miss Universe, becoming the seventh woman from Venezuela to bring home the crown.

Representing a country with such an impressive Miss Universe track record can be a source of added pressure for Venezuelan beauties competing for the ultimate title. But for 26-year-old Gabriela wearing the Venezuela sash was a great honor allowing her to compete with confidence and pride onstage. Venezuela is known for intensive training programs for its beauty queens. Gabriela credits her age and life experiences for giving her the ability to make her own decisions on how she wanted to present herself at the pageant, even at times when she was given instructions from her Venezuelan director. One request of pageant coaches to which she did acquiesce, was to wear only high heels during her three weeks on location in Russia.

Surprisingly, prior to winning the Miss Venezuela title, Gabriela – a stunning beauty at nearly six feet tall – never saw herself having a career in front of the camera. Rather, she was focused on her studies and graduated from the private institution, UNITEC with a degree in marketing and business administration and eventually plans to open her own business after getting her MBA. While going to school, Gabriela was introduced to the modeling world unexpectedly when a scout spotted her unique features which she attributes to her father who is Swiss and German.